After a group trying to bring a Triple-A baseball team to El Paso acquiesced to city Rep. Emma Acosta's desire to change parts of its original agreement with the city, the councilwoman said she still might vote against a Downtown stadium contract.

Acosta said late Saturday night that she will not back the stadium lease contract at Tuesday's City Council meeting unless voters get the chance to consider the stadium deal on November's quality of life bond election.

This past week, Acosta said she was opposed to the stadium contract because it would have prevented other professional baseball teams, such as the El Paso Diablos, from leasing city-owned venues and would have capped a city surcharge on tickets at $75,000 a year.

In response to Acosta's concerns, MountainStar Sports Group on Saturday agreed to remove a non-compete clause that would have prevented the city from extending its lease of Cohen Stadium to the Diablos, an independent league baseball team, past April 16, 2016.

The group also agreed to bump the ticket surcharge from 10 cents to 50 cents for the first year of the stadium lease. The investors also agreed to increase the base rent that they will pay to the city by 10 percent every five years.

Advertisement

"These concerns were legitimate from their standpoint and we felt we needed to take a look at what we could do to resolve some of them, and if possible, all of them," said Josh Hunt, one of the owners of MountainStar Sports, in a statement. "We worked for over a week with the city manager and city staff to iron out these details, and we had to go back to the (Pacific Coast League) to secure their approvals. We feel we're making adjustments that will help, and we appreciate the city's resolve to work through this with us."

The group did not respond to questions about Acosta's possible vote against the deal, despite their changes.

If the council does not approve the contract this week, plans to bring the Tucson Padres, a Triple-A team, to El Paso likely would fall apart, said Dan Barrett, a consultant who negotiated the purchase of the team and the stadium deal for MountainStar Sports.

Also on Tuesday, the Pacific Coast League is expected to approve the sale and relocation of the Padres if the city has approved a new Downtown stadium, Barrett said.

"If we do not receive approval, the current owners of the team have indicated that they will explore other opportunities to sell the team," Barrett said. "El Paso runs the risk of losing out on this rare opportunity to acquire and relocate a Triple-A team."

Even if voters approved the stadium deal in November, it's unknown if the baseball team would still be for sale, said City Manager Joyce Wilson.

Acosta dismissed the urgency of approving the stadium contract.

"We voted on the term sheet June 26 because we had a short window of opportunity and that's why we couldn't put it on the ballot," Acosta said. "Here we are three months later and that window is still open. Why can't we wait another six weeks to ask the voters to approve the baseball stadium? What other city is going to take this lease or terms in six weeks, because it took us three months to get to this point."

During Tuesday's council meeting, Acosta said she will propose changing the language on the November referendum that deals with the 2 percent increase in the hotel occupancy tax. The tax increase would pay for about 70 percent of the $50 million in construction costs of the baseball stadium. She wants that referendum to be tied to the overall approval of the baseball stadium.

The city attorney told Acosta the council could change the language on the hotel-motel tax proposition to add that "if you pass this, that means you approve the stadium," she said.

At Tuesday's meeting, the council is scheduled to clarify the ballot language regarding the hotel occupancy tax proposition.

"There was a little bit of worry about the way it was worded that it made you think you were voting for or against the ballpark rather than just a form of financing," city Rep. Susie Byrd said. "My understanding is we're right at the edge for what can go on the ballot for November in order for it to be approved by the attorney general to put it on the ballot."

Byrd said waiting until November for voter approval of the stadium would kill the deal.

"That's not an option for the ownership group," Byrd said. "They need a commitment from the city if we want to secure the team. My understanding is we have to do it Tuesday. We want to get the most public benefit from this deal but I don't want to do anything to scuttle it."

Acosta's opposition to the contract could sway the vote needed to overturn a veto by Mayor John Cook.

Cook has said he is against plans to demolish City Hall to make way for the ballpark and to buy other Downtown buildings to relocate city offices.

On Saturday, Cook would not say whether he would veto the deal.

"We're going to wait and see exactly what the deal is and the lease agreement," Cook said. "It's really premature for me to consider it."

But on Thursday, Cook said he was considering a veto.

The council could overturn the mayor's veto with a three-fourths majority -- or 6-2 vote -- by city representatives as required under the city charter.

"That's been my belief all along that it should have gone to the voters," Robinson said. "Quality of life issues ought to go to the voters because ultimately the voters are the ones paying for it."

Acosta said she has always wanted the public to vote on the issue. Acosta added that she voted to commit city support for the stadium deal without having enough information.

"The length of time gave me an opportunity to research and compare our contract with other cities," she said. "It's given me an opportunity to familiarize myself with what other cities are doing."

Chris Leinberger, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who has done strategic planning studies in Downtown El Paso, said speed versus due-diligence is a common problem when entities in the public and private sectors collaborate on a project.

"With a baseball stadium, since it's such a large amount of money, it does tend to take longer, so I'm surprised that the city of El Paso chose to move as fast as the potential owner of the team," Leinberger said.

"Private-sector decision making tends to be quick and public-sector decision making by its very nature tends to be slow, so you always have this conflict when the two work together."

The city on Thursday delayed plans to buy the El Paso Times building after Times journalists pointed out that the proposed purchase price was $3.7 million more than a city-ordered appraisal of the property.

Opponents of the stadium have said the project was pushed by the City Council too hastily, bypassing close examination of all its aspects.

Acosta has denied changing her position because of vocal opposition to the stadium project and her intended proposal was not a spur-of-the-moment decision.

In an interview with the Times on Friday, she did not mention her intent to propose adding the stadium deal to the referendum.

"People just want their voices heard," Acosta said. "They want this baseball stadium to be part of their vision as well, not just a select group of people that have a vision."

Hayley Kappes may be reached at hkappes@elpasotimes.com; 546-6168. Follow her on Twitter @hayleykappes.